Zero-Sum
by JustLikeYouImagined
Summary: Sometimes you need to hold in what you feel. Other times, you just finally need to let it out; even in the final hours of existence as we know it. Yumi x Momo, AU, one-shot, takes its title from the NIN song of the same name (but not a songfic).


**AN: Hello, WWC here. This is just a short little one-shot/drabble to stall until the next chapter of Falling Skies is released (since there won't be another chapter next week, as I am going on vacation to Montreal). Yumi x Momo, written in Yumi's perspective, detailing their final words and feelings to eachother as the world comes to an end (giving it a bit of a supernatural feel). This is based on the NIN song of the same name (but not a songfic); this one-shot is MOST definitely AU.**

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As I finally made it to the top of the building, on that solid brick rooftop of a fairly tall structure, I collapsed onto the dirty floor out of exhaustion. I could not walk or move my body any longer. I didn't need to do so, anyway. These would be the last minutes of my life; as would they be anyone elses who was still currently living. This floor I lay on was filthy, but that was the least of my concerns. What did it matter?

All alone, and with nothing better to do than continue to lay down and wait for the inevitable, I gazed up at the withering sky. Massive cosmic holes were stabbed through the twilight skies; cuts, gashes, gaps, and lacerations, stretching for miles and miles along, across the dying above scattered everywhere like incurable scars. The stars began to dim, dimmer, dimmer; and then flicker out. I heard fires around me roar, explosions signal, buildings and monuments and countries and continents crumble and crash into the sea all around me for as far as the human ear traveled.

I'd die alone; adrift and at peace after this ultimatum event reached its closure. I could already imagine the oceans of ash, decay, the everlasting night across the aftermath, and the ruins of once great spectacles of this Earth, before the planet itself withered away into total nothingness, indicating no trace of anything being left behind.

The moment I closed my eyes was the same moment I jolted them open when a startlingly close noise signaled from across the building. I turned my vision over to where the sound came from, and a figure climbed up onto the rooftop.

A familiar figure, fortunately.

The figure—a female—looked for whatever reason incredibly excited; despite the fact that our Earth was ending and these were the last minutes of our lives before we merely became dust. I knew instantly who this girl was. I had known her for as long as I could remember; and as long as I would remember, as there would be nothing after this.

Momoko Touyoko.

"Sempai!" she shouted dashing over to my side. She collapsed onto the empty, dirty space next to me and she could not seem to direct her eyes away from my face. "Stealth Momo has been looking for you, su~!"

"M-Momo..." I stuttered, somewhat relieved, and somewhat disbelieving at the same time. "How-how did you find me here?"

"I was spying on you and followed you here, su~!" She seemed eerily excited by such a concept, but that was Momoko, of course.

"O-oh..." I responded, a drop of sweat rolling down the side of my face. "Well, it's good to see you again, Momo. For one final time, at least, here. We can die together, can't we?"

Momo frowned, and nodded. Like usual, her physical appearance was fading out like a ghost or a spirit from mythology. Years of neglect and isolation and being ignored had gotten to her, to the point where that somehow effected her physical appearance as well. She had told me time and time again that I was the "reason she was still here", or something along those lines, and in this twilight, I hoped what she said had been true.

After a few minutes of silence of just staring at the dying, collapsing sky, I finally turned my head over to her again as she continued to gaze above with a somber look on her face. It was just in this moment that I realized how utterly beautiful she was. I had always been attracted her since our first meeting, both physically and mentally...but here, for some reason, I was in the full presence of an angel. For a split second, just a split second, I felt as though not even this death could separate us.

It was now or never to tell her how I truly felt—all of the feelings I'd tried to keep hidden were now at stake. Soon the both of us, and everyone else on this Earth, would be nothing at all; ash blown away by the dust and debris of our Earth's final moments.

Suddenly, still looking up solemnly at the decaying sky, she said in a heaving sigh an out of context statement; "Shame on us."

I turned my head over to her again, slightly surprised. "What?"

"Shame on us," she said again simply, twirling her fingers in her short hair. "Humankind was all doomed from the start, su~. If our selfish natures could have been abolished, it could have prevented this consequence towards our horrific deeds, y'know. And now in this final twilight, all we can do is hope and pray to God that He has mercy on our filthy little hearts and brains."

"O-oh." I really did not have anything better to say; I could have said "You're right" but it would sound too generic and passive.

But I did agree with her. Humankind was a creation destined to bring upon its own downfall. We had been given so much priveleges and we abused them all and used them up cruelly and with no pity or remorse. Such material things like sex, drugs, violence, money...pleasures, though some of them (such as violence and drugs) twisted and gruesome, that had been granted to us by something out of our reach that expected us to approach them with dignity, and we all threw that dignity away again. The most shameful part was that, only now in our final hours did we realize how wrong we were, but there is no turning back now.

"How much time longer do you think we have, sempai?" Momo asked, turning to me.

As I stared up at the sky once again, its glow now an orange-ish red, explosions signaled all around; the thunderous crumbling of land and cities grew as loud as ever. Comets and flying debris tore the sky like cosmic bullets and flaming monuments arose high into the air like blazing pillars. I estimated to an educated guess; "I don't know. Four, five minutes at the most."

With that, I did not need, want, or have anymore time to postpone my final words towards her. In this twilight, it had to be done. With a nervous shake and hesitant sigh, I stuttured out, "M-Momo...there's something I have to tell you."

"Hmmm? Yes, sempai, su~?" Momo now lay with her hands behind her head, looking straight at me.

I could not hold it back any longer. It was now or never. "M-Momo...I love you, Momo. Ever since the day we first met...that is how I've felt. I'm ashamed that I've held it in for so long, because now it's all over for everything; not just you and I. Yes, we've been on dates. Yes, we've played mahjong together for what seemed like we knew eachother since we were first born. But those weren't any things to tell you I truly love you, and I honestly and truly do. You're the reason that, even at this dead end of the Earth, I am not afraid."

Momo, shockingly to me, smiled warmly and did not look the least surprised. Instead, she stated, "Well, I have always loved you since we first met as well, Yumi!"

My heart nearly stopped; but it did skip a massive beat that seemed to defy all logic. Very few times had she actually referred to me by my actual name; "Yumi". "Yumi". "Yumi". It almost seemed alien now.

"You said that there would be nothing after this, su~?" Momo continued, asking me as I tried to return to coherent and rational thought.

"Oh...uh...huh? Oh, yes, I did." I scolded myself for sounding and being so stupid in that moment.

"Well, how do you know that, su~?" she asked. "This may not be the end, sempai, but perhaps a new beginning."

"What do you mean?" I questioned her, confused as the blinding lights all around glared preparing to finally end what was left of the Earth.

"Look at the sky, su~. See how it opens up and beckons us? I know not if Heaven or an afterlife truly exists, but it might. And together we can both be one even after death, sempai!"

"...If there will be anything at all," I finished for her. Suddenly she grabbed my hand, and my face lit up red.

"Hold on to hope, sempai," she assured. "It may not all be over. And even if it all is, Stealth Momo is still here to die by your side, su~!"

"Momo..." I said, this time sounding courageous enough to have no stutter. The sky was now a deep mix of colors; all blinding and apocalyptic. Ash began to rain from the lacerations in the sky, as did meteorites and blazing comets. Flames engulfed as far the eye could see; mountains, buildings, anything and everything began to crumble around the both of us. This was the end. The final minute. I just knew it from a gut feeling alone.

But I did not feel afraid.

Time was slowing down, and in a few seconds, there would be no more time at all.

I gripped Momo's hand tightly; as tightly as I could, just about as tight as she was holding. And then I asked a final question, the one last thing I would ever say in my life, one that seemed aloof, but I thought provided a sense of closure. "If there is a Heaven, maybe there's mahjong in it?"

Momo simply smiled at me and I returned the grin. "Perhaps, su~," she said. "Perhaps."

We stared up again as the last light began to flicker away and engulf us with its final apocalyptic collision with the planet; the neither of us fearful or afraid as the last light on Earth burned out and flickered away, taking us with it.

**AN: Yes, I know, that was horribly depressing, but nevertheless I hope you enjoyed it. I myself did have fun writing it, even though it's a short one shot just to prepare me for the next chapter of my main fanfiction (Falling Skies) in a couple weeks. Please tell me what you thought of this in the review section and how I could improve.**


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